The present invention concerns an axle unit for use in utility vehicles, in particular utility vehicles with a hydraulic or compressed air system.
Axle units for use in utility vehicles have been known in the prior art for a long time; in particular in towed utility vehicles or in multi-axle utility vehicles, it has proved advantageous to design at least one of the axles as a steered axle. One possibility of creating such a steered axle is to design the axle and wheel suspension as a trailing steered axle, wherein the rotation point of a leg on which a vehicle wheel is rotatably mounted is preferably arranged in front of the rotation axis of the vehicle wheel in the direction of travel. Steered axles configured in this way can be steered actively or passively, wherein in both cases, in particular on reversing of the utility vehicle, steering movements or deflections of the legs must be prevented. To this end, reversing locks have been used in the prior art, which however often take up considerable installation space and cause a high weight due to the solid structure required. Furthermore, it has been found that the additional return or blockade systems arranged in the region around the axle tube are particularly susceptible to the effect of foreign bodies thrown up during travel of the utility vehicle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an axle unit which allows a reliable return and reversing lock for the legs of a steered axle of a utility vehicle, and furthermore requires little installation space and in particular contributes to reducing weight in the region of the running gear of a utility vehicle.